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tv   The Ed Show  MSNBC  December 11, 2012 5:00pm-6:00pm PST

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area. so i'm not sure there was the amount of law enforcement in that area, or it took them longer to get there. it was certainly equally if not more devastating when that occurred. but just the sheer amount of emergency crews and police response to the clackamas town center is impressive. >> and we thank you for joining us right now as we come up on 5:00. reggie aki sitting next to tracy berry. we've been covering this for more than an hour and a half. at 3:30, that's when they started to get the calls in. that's when they made their way to the mall. >> good evening. i'm page hopkins. we're following breaking news out of portland, oregon tonight. shots were fired at the clackamas town center mall earlier. witnesses say a gunman with a semiautomatic rifle wearing camouflage and a mask began firing near a food court. people fled the scene as the shots were being fired. at this hour, we have one person confirmed dead. multiple people believed to have been shot and wounded.
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officials say the gunman has been, quote, neutralized. we're continuing to monitor this story and bring you the latest from our affiliate kgw. let's listen in. >> she ran. >> right. he had just run into her at the mall. and he had left. and then heard about the shooting. and that's when he texted her, and she was in hiding in a storeroom with about 20 other people. and she could hear the shooter still walking around at the time. that was a former law enforcement dax mcmillan who gave us that information. we certainly hope that she and so many others are all right tonight. >> it gives you -- that kind of story gives you chills, it really does. just the unbelievable fear that must have been going through the people who are in the mall. we also talked to a woman who was there with her -- how old did she say her child was? >> 6-month-old son. >> oh, my gosh. she picked up that baby, and she said she ran like hell. >> right. >> away from the sound of the gunfire. and she just could hear multiple shots being fired from what we
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now understand according to witnesses who saw it was an assault rifle. >> right. just in, we want to let you know that we do have some videotape of a witness account of what he saw just moments after the shots rang out inside the mall. let's listen. >> as i was walking towards macy's, i saw glass broken, shattered, bullets, shells, everywhere, a man laying on the floor with blood coming out of him. i was terrified. i started running. i go through macy's and try to help close the door. and on the other side, on jamba and best buy, i think it was a pedestrian laying there. and i think she was shot. so i'm pretty sure that one person was down. the other person hurt. >> i think that was billy. we talked to him on the phone a little earlier. and he did see all of that happen. was able to get out. after he helped some other people get out the side doors as well. >> so our news partner the oregonian was saying earlier two people died. so far the sheriff's office able
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to confirm one person, and they say that there may be more victims as a result of this shooting this afternoon. our mike benner has been there reporting at the scene for us. mike, what are you seeing and hearing now? >> reggie, you know, it's interesting that the sheriff's department says that this is no longer an active shooting, that the shooter has been neutral ides. but to give you an idea of the scope of this investigation that is going to be unfolding over the next several hours, several days, several weeks for that matter, within the last ten minutes, i counted at least two dozen marked and unmarked cars still racing into this scene with sirens and lights. so still a very active situation here. still talking to witness after witness after witness out here. as you mentioned, you just heard from bill from his interview. i just spoke with another young man. he works for the salvation army. he was at one of the entrances, of course, ringing bells. he saw the gunman, as i reported earlier with a white mask, body armor and assault rifle running
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in. what he added, his account is that the shooter at the time was yelling "i am the shooter" as he ran into the mall. so, again, he is wearing body armor. he is wearing a mask, carrying a big assault rifle, according to this guy, and yelling "i am the shooter." so it seems like everyone you talk to out here has a new account, more information to add to this developing story. >> mike, just to clarify, so he saw this man run in and say "i am the shooter." is that before or after the shooting started? >> the way i understand it is it was before the shooting. so he runs in. and he yells "i am the shooter," and then our witness just told us that he heard up to 60 rounds fired. again, that is from a witness, not confirmed by police. they obviously have a lot of work to do still. well might not hear that for some time, how many round were fired. but he said at least five dozen rounds fired, and the gentleman yelling "i am the shooter" as he ran into the mall.
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>> so does the witness you talked to believe -- if someone said that as they were running into the mall, i would assume that it was someone being ridiculous, or someone fooling around with their friends or something. did he -- was he actually fearful that this was someone that was going to commit mass violence? >> you know, reggie, we didn't get that far with him. i think, you know, like any of us, if this is happening, it is happening so fast. and from his account, it did happenyelled "i am the shooter"n in and started firing. people are just trying to make sense of it. you see someone in a mask. is this a prank? is this the real deal? you just don't know. >> i think that's true, mike. we've spoken with people who were inside the mall when the shots rang out, and they weren't even sure they were gunshots at first, because you're not hearing them in the right context. you're inside a mall. >> they thought it was balloons popping possibly. >> how can that be gunshots? it doesn't make sense. >> exactly. and we talked to a couple young
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girls who worked at i believe it was the orange julius, one of the places where you can get smoothies and what not. i think they were a floor below this shooting if i'm correct. they said when they heard what turned out to be gunfire, they just thought it was something happening upstairs, something dropped to the ground a couple of times, something like that. 10 a lot of people in this mall, they weren't directly inside that food court or inside macy's seeing this gunfire, hearing this gunfire that. >> may not know what they heard, what they saw. >> right, exactly. lots of people were still stuck inside the mall. they're trying to get them out now and speak with them before they're allowed to go home. pat dooris is standing by with an eyewitness. pat? >> reporter: well, that's right. as folks are starting to come out, we're starting to hear some of what it was like inside there. i have tyler -- i'm sorry, it looks like we just lost our live connection with pat.
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we're going to work to get that back as we look at the scene at clackamas town center. this all started about 3:30 this afternoon when somebody ran in, opened fire dressed in some kind of a mask and body armor with an assault rifle. people began running madly from the building, but others just had to find a place to hide. police now telling us that that shooter has been neutralized. abby gibb is standing by with someone who also was inside when this shooting started happening. >> i was talking to this young gentleman here mario who was down stairs when it happened. just to clarify, the shooting did happen upstairs. we've been talk about this that people are slowly able to trickle out. you just got out of this building. tell me where you were exactly when you first heard the shots? >> i was at my kiosk. i work at the electronic cigarette kiosk. and i was waiting for people to come by, and all of the sudden we heard gunshots. a couple in a row and more. and it triggered everyone, gunshots, get out of the way. way only makes sense.
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we started going out the opposite direction, and we were ushered into a store. people saying get in the store, it's safer. and we waited. we were getting phone calls left and right. that's when finally we saw s.w.a.t. come in. they told us to stay until further notice because they were searching for other people. eventually they got to us. they had a bunch of guards around us and they ushered the whole group out at once, women and children first, the whole safety procedure. >> so you're inside the store. it's locked down. you're seeing s.w.a.t. go by you. at what point do you start to get a little scared, freak out at all? >> it doesn't do any good to freak out. like it's not going to help there are already people freaking out. one more is just going to add to the chaos. it's pointless. >> so you were able to stay calm? >> there is quite a few people staying calm. there are a few of people scared in the corner kind of waiting. but for the most part we stayed calm. we were locked in, the big old glass doors and s.w.a.t. was on the way. so we waited for further notice. >> how does it feel to be inside
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a store, to know there is an active shooter and to see s.w.a.t. walking by you? >> it was a little weird. it was a little scary. i'm not going to lie to you. but i trust they do their job well and i think they handled it well enough. and freaking out is not going to help anyone. stay calm, try to help everyone stay orderly. >> and mario, how long did you stay inside the store? >> about 40 minutesish, 30, 40 minutes. we were there before that happened. there was just a lot of people. you saw a couple of people walking by, and we ducked back into the corner hoping it wasn't that person. i felt sorry for the people who didn't get into a store. they were really scared too. >> understandably. and last question. you're doing a great job. tell me again what it was like and what exactly happened as s.w.a.t. escorted you out? >> when they escorted us out, they had multiple people covering multiple viewpoints. women and children first, stay tight, stay low. and they had multiple people with guns at the ready, ready to go. and they say stay low. when we first got out, there was a guy walking back and forth, which scared a lot of people. everyone stopped, right.
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and so what happened was one of those guys, the s.w.a.t. guys came out and put him against the wall and searched him. he wasn't one of them. but it scared everyone en, a guy walking outside the doors. he joined the group and stay low, be quick, and women and children first. >> mario, thank you so much for sharing your story. and i'm glad to know you're okay. so these are the stories, tracy, that we're hearing all afternoon long. and again, just to reiterate, there are a lot of people. we don't know how many, but a number of people that are still inside this mall here this evening that locked themselves in many of these stores. for their own safety, and are slowly waiting for the s.w.a.t. teams to be able to escort them out, just like mario had that experience just a few minutes ago. i also want to tell you that as you can see, we're right outside the macy's right now. i did see another s.w.a.t. vehicle come by within the last 15 minutes or so. and with guns drawn and at the ready, racing back over towards that macy's entrance. so i think they're making an active effort right now to be able to help more and more people get out of this safely.
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but still very scary, and a lot of people still very shooken up out here as they're starting to trickle their way out from this mall. back to you. >> abby, most people seem to be handling it pretty well. but you know there is going to be repercussions in the days ahead. you know, there is definitely going to be some trauma involved in this. it's not just the people that were injured physically, but this would just scare the daylights out of you. >> no kidding. and there is no question about that. there is going to be a need for some after care. >> absolutely. >> for the people who saw this and were so close to those who were injured and running for their lives themselves. pat dooris has also been reporting from clackamas town center this afternoon. and pat, did you just talk to someone as well who was inside the mall? >> reporter: yes, i did. it was the middle of the afternoon when all this went down there. were a lot of people inside the mall. i have tyler petterson who was inside applying for a job at sears. what happened? >> that's correct.
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i was inside applying for a job. and the next thing i know, i see a few people running into sears and away from the middle of the mall, saying that they heard shots and there is a shooting going on. i wasn't sure if it was for real at first, until i seen the reactions on the faces that they were serious. very quickly the managers started getting everybody away from the entrance of the sears store and closing down the big doors and locking down all the doors. >> so were people hiding behind counters, that sort of thing? >> people started hiding behind counters, and eventually everybody went to the middle of sears. and on top of the escalators away from all the entrances and everybody could get together and sit there. we actually were watching the news as it was happening on the tv inside the entertainment center. >> what was the mood like? i'm sure very tense. >> yeah. it was tense. it was kind of -- some people were joking and kind of keeping it, you know, lively i guess, and not trying to bring down everybody and scare people.
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and maybe they just didn't know fit was real yet. i don't know. yeah, it wasn't too tense. but some people were scared. >> and how many folks were you with? >> i was -- i would probably say about 30 people on top. >> and how about for you? what was it like for you? >> for me, i wasn't -- i wasn't scared. i just didn't really know what was going on at first until i, you know, started talking to people. and then i just wanted to kind of wanted to see what was going on, but they kept telling me to stay away from the doors. so i just kind of listened to people and what they had to say and kind of got an idea about what was going on. >> and you mentioned earlier, you wondered if it was real, and some people did. we find that a lot in situations like this. you have seen it in the movies, but you never live it. >> that's very true. i actually brought up movie, kind of relating to this incident to a couple of people. it's kind of scary, you know, once it happens in real life. i just thank god that i wasn't
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in the food court, and none of my family members and friends and people that i love. other people that were in the food court, i'm just glad that they weren't there. and hope that not too many people -- i hope that nobody was injured severely. but, you know, sad to say i have heard that there was wounded. >> all right. well, thanks, tyler. a rough day for just trying to apply to a job. he is a college student, getting into being a fitness instructor. so he is still looking for a job there at sears and hopes that they will come back and open up. i'm sure they will pretty soon. you imagine you're in there shopping and all of the sudden you're being herded with 30 other people into an area that is secure, and nobody is really quite sure what is going on? there are a lot of dramatic stories that are going to unfold of what happened here earlier this afternoon. back to you guys. >> definitely. i think we're just getting started with those. thank you, pat. we do want to let you know that odot has reopened the southbound exit to clackamas town center in that area. now that the shooter has been
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neutralized, they have definitely blocked off the mall area and are helping people get out of the mall and out of the parking lot after they have spoken with them. that southbound ramp has been reopened. >> and it does look like there might be some movement in the parking lot now. >> it does. >> a few minutes ago it looked like they weren't allowing cars to leave the clackamas town center. and now it appear there's is at least some movement. can't guarantee they are letting people move, but it looks like cars are moving towards the exit. jocelyn le is on the phone right now. jocelyn, thank you for joining us. were you also at clackamas town center today during this shooting? >> yes. i was at the lancome makeup counter. and i was being helped by one of the sales associates. and the first shot, you know, your head kind of goes wow. and i thought something very loud crack. and then the second one, i knew immediately it was gunfire, one
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after another. and the sales associate grabbed me and we both crouched down by his workstation, and then just the gunfire one after another. and i just started praying that the lord would just protect us. and you know, you have this moment where you're thinking, okay, is he going to keep coming? and anyway, i don't know what made the sales associate stand up, but he says okay, we got to get out of here. and i'm just calling to let you know that there are heroes out there. he is a young man. he works for lancome company. and he got me -- weaved me in and out of the cosmetics counters, down the escalator, and he said okay, i want you to head out this door. he said there you'll be safe. just keep going. but i'm going to go back upstairs and help other people. >> oh, my gosh. >> and i just thought that was amazing. he is a young kid. and i just can't wait to go back and just thank him. because i just felt like he knew what he was doing. there is great kids out there. >> jocelyn, what a tribute to him.
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and thank you for telling us that story. i just want to make it clear, were you in the macy's at the lancome counter there? >> yeah, right there at macy's. i don't know exactly where the gunfire was, but it sounded like it was right there at the entrance of macy's. >> i think it was. i think you were really close. it was on the top floor of macy's right near the food court there. but i think you were pretty close. and then we're told that the gunman did run into, or at least toward the macy's after his assault rifle jammed. >> jocelyn, is that -- i'm not really sure where the lancome counter is. is that on the second floor? >> it's on the upper floor. and it's like one section away from the main entrance of the mall there. so it's -- i mean, the gunfire was so loud, you knew it was just very, very close. it's a blessing. today's my granddaughter's first birthday. and i was just praying, lord,
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let me see her grow up. >> and you will, jocelyn. we're so glad that you're safe, and our thoughts remain with the other people there who have been injured and possibly we hear one or two have been killed by this gunman. so jocelyn, thank you so much for sharing your story. and it's wonderful to hear about all the people that were willing and so brave to help people get out of there. >> very brave young man that. >> takes a lot of nerve to be able to do that. >> i can't wait to go thank him. >> well, thank you, jocelyn. >> all right. >> all right. have a good evening. let's check in with darrin now up in sky 8 to kind of set the scene for us. what are you seeing? >> well, tracy, the scene seems to be pretty much stagnant. there is not a whole lot new to report since last time i spoke with you guys. i do still see police vehicles from both north and south coming to the scene with lights on along 205. so they're still as far as that end of it goes, they're still
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pretty active. they're still bringing more support to help get through this. but as far as, you know, there is no changes to the parking lot. nobody is coming. nobody is going. we did see them escorting some of the people out of the building, probably to take statements from them. but as far as that goes, we're about where we were, just flying around in circles here. the best we can here. >> i thought we saw some cars actually making their way out of clackamas town center. were our eyes deceiving us? >> it's highly possible. sometimes i'm not sure if it's a -- one of the customers' cars or one of the authorities' cars, a fire vehicle or a police vehicle. i'm not positive that some of them guys are leaving with lights off. and it might appear to be a customer car. i'm not sure about that. >> okay. do you see any of the emergency vehicles getting out of there, or is everyone pretty much staying put? >> it appears that everybody is
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pretty much staying put. i haven't seen anybody. we did see one ambulance leave. but other than that, that's the only vehicle i've seen leave. >> we had some earlier reports of life flight may have been brought into the area. did you witness that at all? >> i haven't seen them. and i haven't heard them on one of the other radios. and usually they would be definitely talking to us. the other two news helicopters are up here with us as well. and they would have definitely said they were coming to the scene, and they have not done so. >> right. all right. well, thank you so much for the update on that. keely chalmers has been keeping track on social media, where i'm sure a lot of people are talking with one another. >> that's right, tracy. we're getting tweets in faster than we really can almost read them. but we want to look at a few that really show us what was happening inside the mall just moments after the gunfire rang out. this is a live look at the scene at the mall right now. but a couple ones we wanted to
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point out. this one from gwendolyn daley. she says in the back room of a salon at clackamas town center, because there was a small shooting. wow. i'm safe. fyi. another one from holly lynn b. who says trying to evacuate. oh my god, this is terrifying. at the clackamas town center. here is one from. shooting in the middle of clackamas town center. i'm stuck in the back room of build a bear. again, this is just moments after the gunfire rang out. and we're getting these tweets in. again, this was a while ago. but definitely shows what folks were able to -- to tell the public. again, just seconds after the shooting. shooting in the middle of clackamas town center. i'm stuck in the back room of build a bear. again, that was ry frisco. we also have several tweets from
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folks giving their prayers and their thoughts to the victims of this shooting. we have one from mayor sam adams who says my thoughts and prayers go out to all those in harm's way at clackamas town center. city and at portland police will help any way we can. also we have one from governor kitzhaber, who says my thoughts are with the victims and families of the clackamas shooting. i'm making all state resources available. again, just tweets are streaming in as well as well as messages to our facebook page. a lot of them offering their thoughts and their prayers. i'm also monitoring some tweets from our own colleague, kyle iboshi. he has been tweeting that family members are out there in the parking lot, looking for their loved ones, hoping that they're okay, trying to get any information at all. and just basically thoughts, prayers, folks wanting to know what is going on.
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and giving their sentiments to the folks that are inside this mall. the witnesses, loved ones of those witnesses, and of course all the officers and the law enforcement that is involved. of course, we'll be out here monitoring the tweets, and we'll keep them coming and let you know what we know here from the newsroom. send it back to you. >> all right, thanks, keely. i do want to let you know that the i-205 offramp has reopened. but one little caveat there. trimet buses still not stopping near the mall and max isn't either. >> there you can see s.w.a.t. team that just made its way behind some of the buss that are lined up there. as they are outside the clackamas town center. mike benner, one of our reporters who is outside of the mall. and mike, we've been checking in with you throughout. >> good evening, everybody. this is thomas roberts at msnbc news headquarters at 30 rock in new york city. we've been following the breaking news out of portland, oregon. watching our local aquill philliat. not shots were fired at the
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clackamas town center mall earlier. a gunman wearing camouflage and a mask began firing near a food court. people fled the scene as shots were fired. at this time one person confirmed dead. back with more after this. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligations. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses.
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good evening again, everybody. i'm thomas roberts and we're following that breaking news out of portland, oregon. shots were fired at the clackamas town center mall earlier today, roughly 3:30 pacific time. witnesses say a gunman with a semiautomatic rifle wearing camouflage and a mask began firing near a food court at
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random. female fled the scene as the shots were being fired. we do have confirmation at this hour that one person is dead. multiple people have been shot and wounded, though, according to authorities. and officials say the gunman has been, quote, neutralized. authorities are expected to give us an update at 8:30 eastern time. we're going to bring you that live. but we are continuing to monitor this story and bring you the very latest from our affiliate on the ground there, kgw. >> family or friends that are in the mall we spoke with a mother, gosh, about ten minutes ago. and she showed up at the parking lot where we were at, and she was frantic. she was in tearing. she had her cell phone. she kept saying my daughter was in there. she texted initially and said there was a shooter in the mall and they were trying to get to safety, but i haven't heard from her since. there are a lot of terrified people out here waiting for information to figure out if their loved ones are safe. that's the very latest from the situation where we're standing. be ufor now reggie, send it back to you. >> mark hanrahan part of our team coverage this afternoon, mark, thank you very much. i want to remind everybody, you
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can see our kyle iboshi who is out there as well. some video that was taken earlier. the ambulances were speeding towards the scene at clackamas town center. and while we look at this, i want to let you know that we're supposed to be seeing another update from the clackamas county sheriff's office. and just less than two minutes. 10 we're going to keep our eyes on that and make sure we get you all that new information. as i mentioned a moment ago, kyle iboshi is part of our team coverage there at clackamas town center. kyle, what do you have to say? >> reggie, we've been speaking with a number of employees from macy's and family members. you can imagine out challenging and stressful it is, not knowing how their loved ones are doing and having a difficult time reaching them. many of the individuals are gathered behind us. starbucks has been providing coffee, and many even have blankets to keep them warm during this challenging time. one of these is a macy's employee. you were inside at the time? >> yes. tell me a little bit about what you saw, what you heard, experienced? >> i didn't see anything.
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i just heard the gunshots. basically, i was helping a customer, and we heard the gunshots, and we just started running. >> many of the employees have gathered here, shared cell phones because many of them don't have their cell phones. they had to leave them inside the store. can you kind of describe how employees are working to reach their loved ones? >> we're just trying to work the best we can. just borrowing cell phones, and hoping that everybody can get to their loved ones. >> certainly glad that you're okay. thanks for speaking with us. again, that is the challenging part of all this is reconnecting these many employees and even shoppers as well that have been inside the mall at the time with their loved ones who obviously are greatcally live concerned about this their well-being. back to you. >> thank you, kyle. we, again, are waiting to hear from the sheriff's department coming up in just a few minutes. some of the questions that are unanswered at this point, how many people have been killed, how many people have been injured, are there still people inside the mall? you know, what percentage of the mall of have the s.w.a.t. teams been able to get through.
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>> we're listening to our local affiliate at kgw, about what took place at clackamas town center around 3:30 pacific time outside of portland when witnesses say that a gunman opened fire inside the mall there. certainly terrifying and bringing shock and horror to those people that were shopping, christmas shopping on a mid tuesday afternoon. what we do know is the sheriff's deputies report that the shooter has been neutralized. we are anticipating a press conference coming up roughly any minute from now to find out more of the details. but what we have been able to confirm at this point is that there has been one person injured and one person is confirmed dead. and there you see the outside of the macy's where we were hearing earlier reports of a woman who was at the lancome makeup counter when she originally
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heard shots being fired. we've had reports from people that were in the food court area of the mall there at town center when they first heard some of the shots being fired. again, at least one person is confirmed dead, and one other person is injured, but this was 3:30 in the afternoon, a crowded mall apparently on a tuesday afternoon. people christmas shopping. there are different numbers of varying reports right now of how many shots were fired. but what we do know is that the gunman was carrying an ar-15 rifle. again, some of the first shots being fired inside the macy's and near the food court there at the town center mall. we are waiting for the press conference coming up here in just a second where we're going to get more confirmed details, because there had been initial reports that there might be more injuries than what has been confirmed to us so far. but we don't want to go and rush to air with any information that we don't have confirmed as of yet. joining me now by phone is clint vansant, former fbi profiler to help us talk more about this.
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and clint, as we're learning about this, i know we talked when we were watching the breaking news details unfold out of aurora. this is hauntingly similar, to hear about somebody that may have been wearing camouflage. people are reporting may have been in body armor, walking into a crowded mall and starting to fire at random. >> i think that is part of the challenge with us, thomas, is that it's so similar. we know when you and i talked at that time too we had a similar weapon, an ar-15. at this time, the shooter had a 100-round magazine that jammed on him. there are early reports right now that an ar-15 with a full magazine, whether that means 10, 20 or if it's a banana clip 30 rounds, nonetheless was found laying in this mall. as you suggest, the individual is allegedly wearing camouflage clothing, body armor, and a mask described by some as a hockey mask, or something like in the
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movie "jason" that that individual would have been wearing at the time. we've also heard anywhere from 20 to 60 different rounds have been fired. so the challenge right now, tom, is as it always is in a situation like this is trying to get the information straight. and i think you make the point, msnbc always does, let's wait and let's get the facts. but when you have multiple witnesses bringing in pieces and parts, and many times when you hear a gunfire or echoing, especially in a mall of some place, it could sound in an entirely different direction. it can sound like multiple rounds. i think we don't know, but what we do know is that law enforcement is suggested believed the shooter has been neutralized. that's usually law enforcement talk for he is at least shot and down, if not dead. and now we know that s.w.a.t. teams are methodically going through the mall. there is always the possibility of a second shooter. but they're going through the
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mall because in a situation like this, when you advise people to lock themselves in place, now the s.w.a.t. teams have to go from store to store to find out if there are people hiding, if there are anyone else who has been wounded, or on the off chance that there could be a second shooter still hiding some place in this very large shopping mall. >> as i'm just reading some of the ap reports of people that have been interviewed and giving statements about shopping throughout the mall there in the macy's, certainly a large department store and then there are smaller shops throughout the town center there. but people were running and screaming outside of the mall to get away when they first heard the shot. we have the sound back up and we also have the press conference starting there in portland. let's go to that. >> and carefully, one at atime we're approaching those people gathering and escorting them out of the mall. i can confirm that we believe at this point that there was one and only one shooter involved, and that shooter is deceased. in addition to that, we have at
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least one patient who was taken -- taken from the mall with a traumatic injury, and at least two that were deceased in addition to the shooter. >> two what? >> two dead in addition to the shooter. >> two dead and one -- >> i'm not ready -- i'm not prepared to answer that question yet. i'm trying to protect some of the investigation at this point, because we want to be sure to -- we want to be certain that we do everything we can to firm that there is just the one, and that we haven't missed anything and so forth. so protecting some of that information is important. >> what he was wearing? a mask? >> some of the information that i will not release is specifics as to age of the shooter, what they were wearing, the nature of the firearm, those type of things we need to protect at this point until we are certain we have gathered all the evidence and made sure that -- >> can you tell if it's a man or woman? >> it's male. >> are there any other serious injuries? >> at this time we have just the one injury that we have tractor-trailered? >> and that's the life flighted
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person? >> they went by ground initially to a trauma institute here. >> so just one injured in total? >> as it stands right now, one injured that was transported, two dead, and the shooter dead. >> how are i don't doing the investigation inside? >> so right now our focus is we have nearly 100 officers here from city, state, federal, local law enforcement, and teams carefully searching the mall for anybody else who might be injured, anybody else who is hidden this there. and we will search this entire mall until we are certain it is secure and everybody has been removed. >> how many people are still inside? >> it's hard to tell at this point. we have already evacuated hundreds of people. there is probably less than that remaining in there. but until -- until we search it all, i can't give you a number. >> at what time was this shooter neutralized, as you said? either shot himself or you killed him? >> i don't have the specific time. but it was obviously after our arrival. >> how old -- >> we started receiving calls at
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3:30, multiple 911 calls. we responded quickly. we developed small teams of officers who immediately entered the mall and try and find and locate the shooting. >> where in the mall, what stores? >> how did the shooter die? >> i'm not going to reveal that detail at this time. where it began specifically in the mall is unclear. this was multiple people, multiple witness accounts calling from inside the mall and from various stores in the malls. >> james, what can you tell us about the people who have died? were they store employees? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> can you tell us their ages? >> i'm not going to release any of those details. >> i'm sorry? >> do you know what entrance he used? >> i don't. details about motive, method, that type of thing, i don't have that information. >> do you have a ballpark of how many shots were fired? >> transition right now to other information we need to get out about witnesses and family members? >> if you are a witness to this event, we're interested in your information. so please contact the clackamas county sheriff's office.
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you can either come directly to the sheriff's office on sunnybrook boulevard, our call our non-emergency at 503-655-8011. i understand there are probably many people concerned about family friends and loved ones. be patient because the number of people that are here have overwhelmed the cell phone system. so it's difficult to call even if they have a signal. additionally, there are many people inside the mall who don't have access to a signal. as we get to the folks, we will escort them out and make sure they're okay and get them in touch with you. if they're not released directly from the mall, meaning we release them to their car and they leave, we will transport them to the clack mace county sheriff's office and you can contact us and we'll put you in touch with your loved ones there. >> can you talk about the gun? >> i can't talk specifics about the gun. but if you want to follow this incident, you can also follow us on our twitter feet which is @clackcosheriff. it's training a as #clackamasshooting and follow it on wr ww.flashalert.net.
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>> have you recovered the weapon? >> i think we have recovered a weapon. but until we search the entire mall, we want to be thorough. >> where did you find the shooter's body? >> more details later. my next brief willing be at 6:30 here, 6:30 here. >> where did you find the shooter's body? >> that's all for now. thank you. >> all right. so you're hearing the very latest here. we are expecting another update in the hour. but a few more things that have now been answered. we do believe that there is just one shooter now. we had heard reports there could have been more than one. we don't know at what time that man died. but what we do know is we had heard before about neutralization. they neutralized the shooter and what that meant. we still don't know if that means he actually killed himself, or if one of the officers shot him. but they do not fear that there are any other shooters or any more threats at this point. we are still hearing a lot, though, about thou will there are many people inside, still trying to get outside and having
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s.w.a.t. helping them to be able the get out at this point. they also as you can hear not confirming what the shooter was wearing. and that was a big question that we all had here is exactly what he was wearing, if it was a mask and body armor, what type of gun. those are all questions that still remain unanswered at this point. back to you. >> thanks, abbey there is 100 officer inside the mall right now, still searching for people who might be injured. they don't believe any of the other injuries would be serious. but, you know, people who are running could have tripped on something there may be other people hurt still inside the mall, or waiting to get out. we do know at this point that ohsu has confirmed that they do have that one patient who is suffering from traumatic injuries, and who other people have been killed in addition to the gunman. >> and we just heard from our abbey gibb that the fbi has now arrived at the scene, in addition to this huge show of
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force from our local sheriff's offices and also our police department. sergeant pete simpson, who is with portland police is now on the phone with us, and sergeant simpson, how many of your people are out there today? >> we have a number of officers from the patrol branch out there assisting with traffic control and crowd management. our cert team is also activated to assist the sheriff's office in clearing the mall. it's obviously a massive effort. there is a lot of things that need to be searched and cleared to make safe. so we're providing as much assistance as the sheriff's office needs. >> sergeant, do you guys train for something like this? >> unfortunately, we do. active shooter training has been a staple of law enforcement training going back to when the columbine incident happened in colorado. and our cert team is probably as best trained as anybody in the area. they work with the clackamas
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coun county sheriff's office and s.w.a.t. team. and most offices are trained in active shooter skills as far as going into situations to search for something. so it is an unfortunate retail we have to do. >> so what do you guys do, then? this cert team that is inside the mall, it's kind of a just a big cavernous place. do they just methodically go through each store? what happens in there? >> well, at this point, you know, generally speaking with a situation that seems somewhat stable, the shooting is not happening now, it's going to be a slow and methodical safe clearing to make sure there are no people hiding anywhere that either are victims, witnesses, or suspects. you know, when the shooting is ongoing, it's a very different response in that the goal of law enforcement is to get in and go toward the sound of gunfire as people are trying to leave. they are going to get there an
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try to, you know, contain that shooter into a particular area. i don't know if that was the occurrence today. like a lot of you, i was -- >> listening to the local coverage there on the ground of the shooting that took place in portland, oregon. we're going to be back with much more. but we do have confirmed a total of three dead, the gunman is dead and two people on-site are confirmed dead. have a good night. here you go. you, too. i'm going to dream about that steak. i'm going to dream about that tiramisu. what a night, huh? but, um, can the test drive be over now? head back to the dealership? [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing,
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we're going to be back with much more as we continue to follow this breaking news right here on msnbc. but, again, the confirmation that we have is that a total of three people are dead, one being the male shooter and two other people. but no other information on who those people are. we're going to work to get you details. we're back with more after this. this holiday, share everything. share "not even close." share "you owe me..." share "just right." the share everything plan. sharable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. get a droid razr m by motorola for $49.99. i tell them dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can grow and multiply. polident is specifically designed to clean dentures daily. its unique micro-clean formula
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welcome back, everybody, to our breaking news coverage here on msnbc. i'm thomas roberts at 30 rock in new york. we've been following over this hour the developing news coming to us out of portland, oregon, where we just had confirmation at the half hour from the sheriff's office there telling us about the total of dead on the scene. the shooter has been neutralized. and in terms is dead on the scene, but was able according to reports to shoot and kill two people on-site. one other person was wounded. they haven't given any details about whether or not there is another person suspected to be on-site. however, they are working right now with all those officers on scene to evacuate this mall.
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now this mall is very big, the town center mall there are four different anchor stores there, one being the macy's where we had original witness reports saying they heard the shooting. but other stores like jcpenney's, sears and nordstrom are also anchor stores within this mall. and as you know, your local neighborhood mall will have different little stores and the food court in between. so hundreds of people were in this mall this afternoon, roughly around 3:30 when the first shots rang out. we still don't know much more about the shooter in all of this. what we do know is the reports that have come out from witnesses saying that he was carrying a semiautomatic rifle. there have been conflicting reports on the number of rounds that he was able to achieve firing. but the police and the sheriffs on the scene say they have found two people dead and one other person has been taken to the hospital. with a traumatic injury. they say that 100 officers between city, local, and state are now on the scene combing the entire mall, looking for other people who may have been injured
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in the melee that took place this afternoon there. right now we still have no detailed information about the shooting suspect himself because of the ongoing investigation. they only released that it was a male. they won't tell us his age. they won't even confirm what he was wearing at this point. and there are reports about a certain outfit maybe that he was wearing, camouflage and a hockey mask. we're back with more after this. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose.
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have confirmed that three people are dead at the town center mall in clackamas, oregon. the clackamas town center mall there, this after a gunman opened fire roughly around 3:30 pacific time this. original reports from certain witnesses saying that they heard the first shots ring out around the macy's department store there. and by the food court. but again, just at the half hour with the sheriff's office confirming, three people are dead, one being the gunman and two shoppers who were at the mall. right now there are over 100 officers on-site who are scouring this mall, which contains anchor stores like a jcpenney's, nordstrom, a movie theater, the sears, and again, the macy's trying to evacuate the hundreds of christmas shoppers who were there this afternoon. not a lot of details that have been given to us about the shooting suspect. however, police are playing their card close to their chest right now because they say they are not sure whether or not this person was working alone. they have confirmed that it was a male shooter. clint van zandt is a former fbi
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profiler and joins me right now. clint you have some new details about what we learned through this press conference? >> well, i think a number of things, thomas. as you just shared, we know the number of dead and wounded now, unfortunately. we also know in any type of large traumatic situations like this, the phone lines, cell phone lines go down very quickly. and i think one of the things you learn from a situation like that is that if you're involved, if you're near that and you can't get a phone call out, immediately try to text anyone you want to contact. you can normally get through if you use your phone for texting purposes, even though it won't function as a cell phone. now, we know the likelihood that police had to respond to an active shooter. as one of your previous guests indicated, this is something we learned after columbine high school that shooting there. there was a time when law enforcement would show up at the scene of an active shooter. they would wait the 15, 30, 45
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minutes until s.w.a.t. might get on the scene. they would get geared up, and then s.w.a.t. teams would move methodically through a building. what we found out, just like i'm sure law enforcement found out in this shooting, you can't wait for that. what you do is you get one or two officers, usually uniformed who are trained in the active shooter response. and thomas, their job is to move into a building and to go for the shooter, even if they see somebody wounded and down, they have to go past them and they have to go to the shooter because they have to stop that shooting. otherwise other people are going to be injured. and i think that's the response now. and even though as you report we have at least 100 law enforcement officers on the scene, according to, this is two, three hours after the fact that we're able to get that many people. what is also going on right now, thomas is both the crime scene investigation, in essence, law enforcement has to get the cameras. they have to interview the
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witnesses. they have to find the weapons. they have to find the empty rounds that have been fired. so they can accurately identify the crime scene. they have to see if there is any evidence of a second person -- maybe not a second shooter, but a second person who may have been helping or somehow supporting the shooter. they have to obviously find out who the shooter is, see if his vehicle is in the parking lot and find that. they have to find out where he lives and conduct a search of his house. they have to find his friends, family, any other relatives. they're trying to identify motive. and again, what else might this guy have done. we've seen many shooting situations like this. >> right. >> where some other time of terrible event took place first, perhaps another shooting, and then he moved on to this. so law enforcement, that's why you have 100 officers on the scene. and i would suggest between the local, state, and federal agencies, you're going to have
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at least that many more out covering leads, trying to put this together tonight because there could be another scene where something has already happened or something could happen like we witnessed at the shooting at the movie heater in colorado. again, there is some eerie similarities that you pointed out earlier between how this guy might have been dressed and what he did to the colorado shooting. these are all things that law enforcement has to put together, and they have to do it quickly. >> and it's only -- i mean, it just takes a second to imagine when you hear about this the confusion and the chaos, clint, that must have erupted when people started to hear these shots to be at the mall at 3:30 in the afternoon, whether you're shopping with your family or your young kids or students who may have just gotten out of school and gone to the mall for an afternoon, to hear this and the panic that must have ensued for these people. >> and just as you're saying, there would be people rung. there would be -- i've already seen reports of multiple women
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with young children having to pick those children up and run as hard as they can to get out of there. this requires us to make a decision if we're in a situation like that, thomas. do you find a place to hide? do you look for cover? do you look for concealment? do you try to get out of the mall? usually a lot of people afterwards say gee, i saw him, i should have jumped him. well, if this guy is shooting a semiautomatic rifle and he's got body armor and things like this, maybe that wouldn't have been the best decision. these are all individual decisions that we have to make so that we can survive, our friends and family can survive and do what we can to help those around us. those are horribly chaotic situations. unless someone has had military or law enforcement training, the best thing they can do is figure out a way to get out of that area as fast as they can. and yet be the best source of information they can when law enforcement comes